Sheet registering method and means



Sept. 26, 1961 J. E. VANDEMAN SHEET REGISTERING METHOD AND MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 v INVENTOR. JACK E. VANDEMAN Filed Jan. 14, 1954 Sept- 1961 J. E. VANDEMAN 3,001,788

SHEET REGISTERING METHOD AND MEANS Filed Jan. 14, 1954 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Max 5. wan/mun United States Fatent 3,001,788 SHEET REGISTERING METHODAND MEANS Jack Enos Vandeman, Berea, Ohio, assignor to Harris-Intertype Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 14, 1954, Ser. No. 404,054

9 Claims. (Cl. 2.7l58) This invention relates to improvements in sheet registering method and means, particularly a method and means for starting front and side registration earlier to increase the amount of time allotted to registration. In conventional practice sheets are carried forward in stream formation on the feed board by frictional contact with endless tapes or the like which impel each sheet in succession against a series of transversely aligned front stops to effect front registration. In one form the front stops are lowered from above and front registration is effected only after the rear end of the preceding sheet has cleared the front stops. In accordance with patent to Wood 2,571,806 an earlier front registration is permitted by the employment of means for advancing the tail end of the preceding sheet to clear the front stops earlier than normal. After the front stops are thus cleared front registration of the next sheet is effected and side registration can begin immediatelly thereafter in the usual way.

In another form the front stops are raised from below. In this form, while a preceding registered sheet is being moved forward bodily at press speed off of the succeeding sheet the front stops rise to intercept and register the succeeding sheet and side registration is begun after the rear edge of such preceding sheet has passed the side registering pont and before it has reached the front stops.

In accordance with the present invention method and means are provided wherein both front registration and side registration may be started earlier in the cycle than heretofore without necessitating any change in the time of completion of the later of the two, namely, the side registration, thereby providing a longer total time for the two kinds of registration. This is accomplished by advancing the tail edge of a registered sheet, which is being fed into the press, at a greater speed than the speed of its leading edge prior to the time said tail edge reaches the side registration point, thereby clearing the side register point earlier in the press cycle, advancing the next succeeding sheet against the front stops and completing front regis tration thereof against such stops by about the time said more rapidly advanced tail edge passes the side registering point and beginning side registration of said next succeeding sheet after said more rapidly advanced tail edge passed the side registering point and before it passes the front stops.

Thus, one of the objects of the invention is the provision in a printing press of means for increasing the amount of time available for sheet registration purposes.

Another objectis'the provision of a novel method and means of feeding sheets which embodies side registration of each sheet earlier in the feeding cycle than has been possible heretofore.

Other objects and features of novelty will appear as I proceed with the description of that embodiment of the invention which, for the purposes of the present application, I have illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of an offset printing press embodying the invention, the parts being in the position in which the foremost sheet of a stream has been front and side registered and is about to be forwarded into the press;

FIG. 2 is a smiliar view wherein the then foremost sheet of the stream is being front registered while the preceding sheet of the stream 's being drawn off the feed board but still overlies the front stops;

FIG. 3 is a further similar view wherein the preceding sheet still overlies the front stops but has cleared the side registering mechanism so that side registration of the underlying sheet can immediately take place;

FIG. 4 is a detail elevational view on a larger scale showing the front stops and overguide hooks in operative position and a sheet being front registered;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 4 with the front stops and overguide hooks withdrawn downwardly into inoperative position, and

FIG. 6 is a detail view partly in section on the line 6--6 of FIG. 4.

In the drawings a feed board of more or less conventional character is shown at 10, over which sheets are fed in a stream as by means of endless tapes, not shown. 11 is a feed cylinder which is driven from an advancing cylinder 12, the latter being geared to an impression cylinder 13 and turning at the same surface speed. Cylinder 11 is driven at a non-uniform speed, as by mechanism disclosed in Wood application Serial No. 313,722, filed October 8, 1952, now US. Patent No. 2,746,312, with two difierent constant speed periods and intervening periods of acceleration and deceleration.

Each sheet after being registered is gripped by a pair of nipper rolls and driven forward against front gauge pins on the cylinder 11 at a speed somewhat greater than the speed of that cylinder during its acceleration period. Thereafter the drive to cylinder 11 reaches its higher constant speed period which gives it a surface speed equal to the surface speed of cylinder 12, at which speed the forward edge of the sheet is taken by the grippers on cylinder 12 and moved forward for transfer to impression cylinder 13.

The upper nipper roll 14 is mounted on a shaft 15 which has fixed hearings in the machine frame. It may be driven by a cam mounted on a constantly revolving shaft, such as the shaft of cylinder 12, in the manner of the similar nipper roll in Harris Patent 1,307,969, that is to say it has a short stationary period during which the lower nipper roll 16 rises to press a sheet against the outer perimeter of roll 14, an accelerating period during which it reaches a surface speed somewhat greater than the speed of cylinder 11 for driving the sheet forward, an idle period and a further rotation to bring it back to the FIG. 1 position. Thus it has acceleration and deceleration periods and different stationary periods for each complete revolution, and there is one such revolution for each sheet fed. Somewhat less than half the circumference of roll 14 is taken up with a circular arc 17 of a radius such as to cooperate with lower nipper roll 16 for advancing a sheet. The balance of its periphery is cut away to provide a short radius portion 18. At all times except when its shaft 15 is turning rapidly and its long radius arc is cooperating with lower nipper roll 16 to forward a sheet, its short radius arc 18 is disposed above the front stops. Consequently it clears the front stops and any sheet running over the front stops, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, and it grips and advances a sheet only when the preceding sheet has been advanced beyond the front stops, as in FIG. 1.

Advancing cylinder 12 is the same size and turns at the same speed as impression cylinder 13. It is provided with tail pull-out mechanism such as that of the previously mentioned Wood Patent 2,571,806. However, in the present machine the timing is such that the arm 20 upon which the pull-out roller 21 is carried begins to swing outwardly earlier in the cycle than in the case of the said patent, and it reaches its maximum outer position at the point illustrated in .FIG. 3. At thispoint the pull-out roller 21 will have advanced thetail end of the sheet faster than the grippers 22. acting on its. forward edge, and a sheet of the maximum length handled by the machine will have just passed the side registering means, herein shown as upper and lower rotating wheels 23, 24 one of which is positively driven. This side registering mechanism is conventionally located well behind the front stops in order not to disarrange the sheet or swing it out of its longitudinal forwarding path. As a rule the side registering mechanism is disposed behind the front stops a distance more or less approximating one quarter of the length of the maximumsize sheet. At the proper time in the cycle the upper wheel 23 is lowered and the sheet is pinched against wheel 24, as in FIG. 1, whereupon the sheet is pulled sidewise until it engages a side guide 19.

There are a series of upper nipper rolls 14 spaced along the length of shaft 15 and a corresponding number of lower rolls 16. Each of the latter rolls is mounted on an arm 26 which is keyed to a rock shaft 27 mounted in the frame. Shaft 27 is rocked back and forth once for each feed cycle to raise rolls 16 through slots in the feed board to a height such that they press a sheet against the long radius portions 17 of feed rolls 14, as in FIG. 4, and to lower the rolls 16 to an elevation beneath the feed board 10 as in FIG. 5. The front stops 30 are in the form of upstanding ends on levers 31. These levers are clamped upon a rock shaft 29 which is also mounted in the frame of the machine and is swung by suitable means from the operative position of FIG. 4 to the inoperative position of FIG. and back again. The front stops of course rise to operative position once for each feeding cycle.

In order to prevent the front edge of a sheet being registered from over shooting the front stops 30, overguide hooks 32 may be provided. These are mounted on the upper ends of arms 33 which are secured by means of screws 34 to a rack 35 which is guided in a housing 36 that is oscillatable upon a shaft 37, in a portion of the periphery of which gear teeth 38 are cut to mesh with the teeth of rack 35. Housing 36 is connected with lever 31 by means of a link 39 which has pivotal connections at both ends. When lever 31'is swung down to lower stops 30, link 39 swings housing 36 counterclockwise, thereby swinging arm 33 down toward the left, and at the same time shaft 37 oscillates clockwise and returns, causing rack 35 to move upwardly and downwardly because of its meshing relation with gear teeth 38 to cause the hooks 32 to clear the sheet edge in passing. In the reverse movement arm 33 swings to the right and moves upwardly so as to bring the overgtiide hooks up through the feed board and then to descend because of the rack and pinion connection so as to stand in the position of FIG. 4 where the hooks clear the surface of the feed board only far enough to permit the sheet to advance into contact with the front stops.

Operation Assuming that a stream of sheets including sheets S1 and S2 is moving downwardly on feed board at a constant speed muchless than the surface speed S1 has been both front and side registered as in FIG. 1, and the long radius are 17, of nipper. roll.1-4 hascome into the position illustratedin that figure, ,the, lower nipper roll 16 rises to pinch the sheet against the long radius its . 4 portion 17 of roll 14. This occurs while the sheet is stationary. Immediately thereafter the front stops 30 and the overguides 32 descend to their FIG. 5 position after which the shaft 15 begins to turn clockwise with an accelerating motion. At this time cylinder 11 is in its acceleration period. The acceleration motion of nipper roll 14 imparts a surface speed to the arcuate periphery 17 of the nipper roll which is somewhat greater than surface speed of cylinder 11, so that as soon as the front gauge pins 40 on the cylinder 11 reach approximately the position shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1 the forward edge of the sheet will be forced against them, whereupon the grippers 41 will close upon the sheet and carry it forward. The upper wheel 23 of the side registering mechanism will have risen after thenipper rolls have gripped the sheet but before they forward it. Cylinder 11 now fully accelerates to its constant high speed and by the time grippers 41 reach the line of centers of the cylinders 11 and 12 their speed will be the same as that of grippers 22 and the forward edge of the sheet will be transferred to the latter grippers.

When the active portion of the revolution of nipper rolls 14 has been completed, in other words when they have reached the position of FIG. 2 approximately, the front stops 30 and the overguide books 32 will rise to their position of FIGS. 2 and 4 and the next sheet S2 will move forward into front registering position. The sheet S1 where it overlies the front stops will be cleared by the cutaway portion 18 of nipper rolls 14. At about this time sheet S1 will be in the position approximately ofFIG. 2 and the pull-out roller 21 'will have begun to advance the rear'portion' of thesheet more rapidly than the grippers 22 are movingthe front edge. This will continue until the pull-out rolls reach their position of maximum effect illustrated in FIG. 3, and at this point the tail end of a sheet S1 of maximum length will be pulled forward beyond the side registering point. Sheet S2 which has previously been front registered may now be side registered and wheel 23 of the side registering mechanisrn'will descend to operative position so as to effect side registration of sheet S2. The pull-out roller 21 will now begin to recede into the periphery of cylinder 12 and the tail end of sheet S1 will advance more slowly than the sheet grippers 22 until the loop has been taken out ofthe sheet. Sheet S2, having already been front registered and at least partly side registered, will be ready to be advanced by the nipper rolls as soon as side registration is completed and sheet S1 passes the front stops. 1

In accordance with the method of this invention, front registration of a given sheet is completed and side registration is begun well before/the preceding sheet clears the front stops, and in fact well before it would normally clear the side registering means.

Having thus described my invention. I claim:

1. The method of feeding sheets toward a printing or like machine which comprises feeding underlapped sheets in a stream along a feedboard, front registering a first sheet by moving stop means into the path of the sheet from below the stream, gripping the first sheet at a point to the rear of the front registering point and moving it transversely to side register the sheet, grasping the forward end of the sheet after it has been side registered, releasing the grip on the sheet and moving the stop means out of its path, forwarding the grasped sheet to said machine, temporarily advancing the tail end of said first sheet at a speed greater than the speed of its forward end to cause the tail end to assume a maximum advanced position relative to the forward end at approximatelythe time the tail end passes said side registering point, front registering an underlapped second sheet of the streamwhile covered by. Said first sheet and beforesaid more rapidly advanced tail end of the first sheet passes said side registering point,

approximately the time the advancedtail end of the first sheet passes said side registering point and moving it transversely to side register said second sheet, grasping and forwarding the second sheet to the machine, in the manner of the first sheet, and proceeding in like manner with succeeding sheets of the stream.

2. The-method of stream feeding underlapped. sheets toward a printing or like machine which comprises feeding a first sheet to' the machineyfront registering a second sheet the forward end of which underlies the first sheet, temporarily advancing the tail end of the first sheet at a speed greater than the speed of its forward end to cause the tail end to assume a maximum advanced position relative to the forward end at approximately the time the tail end passes a side registering point of the machine, gripping the second sheet on at least its upper side at said side registering point after said more rapidly advanced tail end passes said side registering point and moving it transversely to side register the second sheet, grasping the forward end of the second sheet after it has been front and side registered and after the tail of the first sheet has passed the point at which the second sheet is grasped, releasing the side registering grip and moving the stop means out of the path of the second sheet, feeding a third sheet underlying said second sheet at a speed such that the forward end of the third sheet passes the side registering point soon after the side registering grip on the second sheet is released and such that said third sheet is front registered before it is gripped for side registering, and forwarding said grasped second sheet to the machine.

3. In mechanism for feeding sheets to a printing machine or the like, means for feeding a stream of evenly spaced underlapped sheets forward at a given stream speed, bottom front stops, side register means disposed rearwardly of said front stops, said means being adapted to grip a sheet and move it transversely for side registration, means for moving said front stops downwardly after each sheet is front and side registered and for raising the front stops thereafter beneath the first sheet to intercept and front register the second sheet of the stream, means acting upon the previously registered first sheet of the stream for grasping it and forwarding it past said front stops toward the said machine, and means for temporarily advancing the tail end of said first sheet at a speed greater than that of its forward end to cause the tail end to assume a maximum advanced position relative to the forward end at approximately the time the tail end of the first sheet passes said side register means, said side register means instituting side registration of the second sheet approximately at the time the tail end of the first sheet passes the side register means.

4. A device for feeding sheet material to a printing machine or the like, comprising in combination: a table for conveying sheets in overlapping relation to one another, said table having a front edge, conveying means spaced from said front edge of said table and movable for pulling the leading overlapping sheet from said table, catching means, said catching means being reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein it extends from below into the space defined by the front edge of the table and said conveying means and into a plane above the plane of said table for lifting the trailing portion of said overlapping sheet and for catching the leading edge of the next sheet underlying said first mentioned overlapping sheet, front registering gauge means reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein said front registering gauge means extend into said space between the conveying means and the front edge of the table for engaging said leading edge of said underlying sheet and registering same, the operative positions of said catching means and of said registering gauge means being substantially in alignment with each other, and gripping means movable for gripping said next sheet upon registry thereof and leading same to said conveying means.

. In a device as claimed in claim 4, said conveying means including a rotatable cylinder, and second gripping tioned overlapping sheet for lifting the trailing portion thereof, and the mouth of said jaw being capable of engagement with the leading edge of said next sheet.

7. In combination with a device as claimed in claim 4, side registering means reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein it engages said next sheet for registering same sidewise.

8. A device for feeding sheet material to a printing machine or the like, comprising in combination: a table for conveying sheets in overlapping relation to one another, said table having a front edge, conveying means spaced from said front edge of said table and movable for pulling the leading overlapping sheet from said table, catching means, said catching means being reciprocable: between an inoperative position below said table and. an operative position wherein it extends from below into the space defined by the front edge of the table and said. conveying means and into a plane above the plane of said table for lifting the trailing portion of said overlapping sheet and for catching the leading edge of the next sheet underlying said first-mentioned overlapping sheet, front registering gauge means reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein said front registering gauge means extends into said space between the conveying means and the front edge of the table for engaging said leading edge of said underlying sheet and registering same, the operative positions of said catching means and of said registering gauge means being substantially in alignment with each other, gripping means actuated to grip said next sheet upon registry thereof and for leading the same to said conveying means, said catching means including a portion adapted to overlie said table in close proximity thereto when the catching means is in its said operative position, and means for actuating said catching means including first means for swinging said catching means forwardly and downwardly away from said table to move said catching means to its said inoperative position and including means for imparting, during the initial movement of said catching means to its inoperative position, a raising movement to said portion in addition to the movement produced by said first means to cause said portion to move upwardly above the path which it would follow due tomovement by said first means.

9. A device for feeding sheet material to a printing machine or the like, comprising in combination: a table for conveying sheets in overlapping relation to one another, said table having a front edge, conveying means spaced from said front edge of said table and movable for pulling the leading overlapping sheet from said table, catching means, said catching means being reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein it extends from below into the space defined by the front edge of the table and said conveying means and into a plane above the plane of said table for lifting the trailing portion of said overlapping sheet and for catching the leading edge of the next sheet underlying said first-mentioned overlapping sheet, front registering gauge means reciprocable between an inoperative position and an operative position wherein said front registering gauge means extends into said space between the conveying means and the front edge of the table for engaging said leading edge of said underlying sheet and registering same, the operative positions of said catching means and of said registering gauge means being substantially in alignment with each other, gripping means movable for gripping said next sheet upon registry thereof and leading same to said conveying means, said catching means comprising a member oscillatable about an axis to swing said catching means between positjpps aboygand below said table and a support armextending upwardly from said member and having a hook on the outer end thereof adapted to overlie said -table when saideatehingmeans is in a raised position, means connecting said arm to said member for endwise movement to extend and contract the effective length betweenrsaid axis i-and hook, (and actuating means for operating said catching means'including first means for swinging said member about said axis and second means for reciprocating said ann to move said hoflk qutwagdly of and inwardlyltojwapd d as said patching means moved from zone positiqntq the other.

References Cited the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

